Aintree Special

As there have already been 26 positive responses to the proposal, I am pleased to confirm that the 'Aintree Special' will indeed be produced.
I've every confidence that I will get at least 4 more takers in the next few days and I would rather commit to it now and start the ball rolling, than wait until the target 30 has been reached.
The experience of Cheltenham taught me that the admin takes a bit of time and effort, and I would like to get as much of that out of the way this week, thereby enabling me to focus on the actual meeting, from this weekend onwards.

Just a quick confirmation of how things will work:
There will be a £10 charge for the Special. This can be paid in exactly the same ways as were in operation for the Cheltenham Special - if required, details can be found under the 'Cheltenham Special' section, on the right.
For this, I will produce tips and rationale for the majority of the races run over the 3 days (12-14th April) of the Aintree festival (I will tip in most races and comment on them all).
There may be a few early 'ante-post' bets for some of the big races (eg. the National !) and these will be issued any time from Sunday onwards.
Generally though, tips for the days racing will be issued after the overnight declarations have been made (late morning, the day before). Most of the tips will be issued either around lunchtime or in the early evening, the day before racing. The rationale for all tips will be issued via email, late in the evening before the days racing.

I would expect to tip in most of the 21 races. I am unlikely to tip in all of the races but may well provide multiple tips in some. I would suggest a bank of around 30 points will be required - maybe a little more, to be on the safe side.
Hopefully, most of you know me well enough now, to know that I will be very careful with both the tips and the staking - however, 21 races is not a lot and if we hit a poor run of fortune, a loss on the meeting is a distinct possibility.
That said, all things being equal, there is no reason why the venture can't be as successful as the Cheltenham Special - I certainly hope so !!

Thanks in advance for your support. Hopefully it will be a fun - and rewarding - few days !
TVB. 

Aintree Special - a proposal

Following Cheltenham, a number of people asked me whether I would be prepared to do an ‘Aintree Special’. My response to this was ‘no’ – but I’m now starting to waiver a little…!

The reason I didn’t want to do an Aintree Special, is because the Aintree races are generally a bit harder to read than the Cheltenham ones.

At Cheltenham, you can be pretty sure that every runner has been targeted specifically at the race in which it runs and has been brought to a peak for it. Therefore, by and large, the best horses tend to win…

At Aintree, runners tend to fall into 3 distinct categories: Horses that have been targeted at the meeting and should be at a peak for it: horses that ran well at Cheltenham and have therefore got strong form in the book (but may have gone ‘over the top’) and horses that ran poorly at Cheltenham but may have had an excuse for the poor run and so could bounce back at Aintree.

The other issue with Aintree, is that there aren’t as many races and therefore short term luck, can play a more significant role.

On the other hand, the Cheltenham Special was a success – and I know I’ve remained ‘in the groove’ since then, so all things being equal, I would be optimistic that Aintree could be a similar success.

What I am therefore going to do is, once again, poll you, the TVB followers, to see if there is an appetite for an Aintree Special.

The ‘deal’ would be very similar to the deal for Cheltenham:

I will charge £10 for the 3 days. For that, you will get tips for most (though this time, probably not all) of the Aintree races. These will generally be issued the day before – though some will be issued a couple of days before (for the bigger races).

You will also get a write up justifying all of the tips. This will be sent out late on the evening before the next days racing.

Again, as with Cheltenham, please be aware that this is tipping over a very short period of time – and so anything can happen !

There are likely to be 15-20 tips – but as anyone who followed the TVB earlybird tips will know, I’m quite capable of tipping 20 losers on the trot (though hopefully this won’t happen !).

I would suggest a ‘bank’ of 30 points will be required – but, bear in mnd, there is a possibility that you could lose all 30 points !

If you would be interested in subscribing to an ‘Aintree Special’, please register your interest via the poll on the right.

I will leave the poll open until the weekend – or until 30 people have registered their interest (this is the minimum number I want, to justify going ahead).

If I get the required response, I will contact everyone and advise on payment options (though these will be the same as last time).

TVB.